From the auditorium in the war.

More than 7000 soldiers to learn the universities of the Bundeswehr - for himself and for his country. The study conditions are excellent, but the mood is depressed: Many young officers in Afghanistan will soon have to risk their lives. And before departure write their wills.

 

Sabastian Kothanikkel sits at the desk of his office and is working on the thesis, when the breaking news on the television screen is running. "Two German soldiers in Afghanistan's Kunduz by a suicide bomber killed", stood there.

That was the end of October, similar messages were already in May and August. It can be used not to declare Kothanikkel, 25 The first thought: "Hopefully it's not that I know of." The thesis is no longer interested. Kothanikkel urges comrades to "collect information," he says. The victims are unknown to him.

On the evening he changed his profile photo on the Internet platform StudiVZ students. It now displays a cross, including the words: "In memory of our fallen soldiers."

"If I do not need someone else to do"

For Sabastian Kothanikkel Afghanistan is also not a war zone, no German political issue - it could be the future work. The Hamburg student comes from an Indian officer in the family, his ancestors fought in the Second World War against Germany. Now he is himself a soldier in the Bundeswehr. After Afghanistan, he would not volunteer, but a corresponding command to follow, of course: "If I do not, then there must be someone else to do. And if what happened, I would never forgive me."

UNIblogs 6 / 2008

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Content

Kothanikkel studied politics at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg. Like his fellow students there and at the Bundeswehr University in Munich, he has after graduation for a total of 12 years study and subsequent service in the Force undertakes - now it's 13th In his wallet is a photo of coffins with German flags, cut from a newspaper. "If I am here goes well, the picture reminds me that I am a soldier," says Kothanikkel.

The soldiers hid status primarily benefits: Compared with the mass civilian institutions, the conditions for the 7000 Army-students almost heavenly. A professor serves an average of 28 students at other universities is about twice as many. Most graduate student living on campus in well-equipped dormitories. And: You refer a salary of around 1,500 euros net.

It was the then defense minister and later German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (SPD), the Bundeswehr was founded universities. He wanted to make it more attractive for professional officers and soldiers trained for the period after the service to offer the weapon. 1973 launched the first soldiers into the study.

Trimester, tightly organized like an army parade

In the study contents, this little story from. In military projects, only in exceptional cases researched. Thus, at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Munich, although experiments with weapons made in most other laboratories, but the researchers deal with civilian issues such as flood control or navigation systems.

Photo: blogs ONLINE
Video: JKR

The most popular subjects are the economic and engineering sciences, in Hamburg and Munich, but also education, state and social sciences, politics, history or sports offered. Subjects such as orchids to large public universities are missing. The academic year is modeled after the Anglo-Saxon divided into quarters - and tightly organized like an army parade. If the bachelor's degree in seven quarters not create, can not master it.

Lately, the military-style moves at the two campuses in Hamburg and Munich for the first time since its inception with power in the foreground. A new era is here: before Afghanistan and since Afghanistan.